


Breaking point | Pokemon B2W2

by XenoKiryu



Series: Journey of Trainer!Theresa [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: Other, Pokemon Trainer Author, Self-Insert, author insert, based off of game content, based off of gameplay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-17 03:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13650855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XenoKiryu/pseuds/XenoKiryu
Summary: Theresa started her journey at 15 and now at 24 she is finding herself being pulled back into the fray with Team Plasma once more, will she be able to keep them down or will she find herself breaking at the very end?[[ This is part 1 out of a 6 part self-insert story, it will update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. ]][[ Can also be found on my Quotev account: Xenokiryu and on my Wattpad account: Xenokiryu ]]





	1. Welcome back

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is split into two parts because of how long it is, but-- this is actually a 6 parter story series. Each "book" takes place in a different Region and is based upon my personal playthroughs of the Pokemon games with a few changes here and there. It doesn't strictly follow game canon, but it follows some of it.

        It had been two years since the incident back at the Unova Pokemon League. Hell, it had felt like the events had been more recent than the time that distanced them, but in the strange twist of events Theresa had taken it upon herself to actually settle down somewhere instead of continuing on with her self-proclaimed journey while she had witnessed N go forth and leave Unova is search of a better understanding of what he hoped to do.

        Sure he had a noble cause and reason, that much she understood and despite the horrible truth that both had learned about his whole role in Team Plasma’s attempt to take over the Region, she couldn’t blame him for wanting to take that leave and go on a journey of self-discovery, at one point that had been her and her sister. So recalling on what she could, she had promised him that she would do what he had asked of her, or at least stay behind with Reshiram in some weird way of “protecting” Unova while he and Zekrom went about their own path.

        Needless to say, that was one of the reasons she had even opted to stay back in Unova, in some aspect the other reason had been more of a selfish thought at best. She didn’t have to stay back in Unova, there was essentially nothing tying her down here, no guy or gal was keeping her here. It had been out of a selfish need to actually find someplace quiet, someplace away from Hoenn for the time being until things settled.  Though after the deal with Team Plasma, things seemed to have gotten much quieter and she found herself savoring that coveted peace and quiet, at least that had been the lie that she constantly told herself.

        Last she heard in the coming years had been that Alder was no longer the champion of the League in Unova and that someone had taken his place, it sounded like Lenora had no longer continued being a Gym leader and that Alder had been requested to take her place only to decline… thus leaving Unova without a Gym leader to head up and distribute the Basic badge, Theresa had even gone on to hear that young Bianca had finally found who she wanted to become, whereas things had been mostly mum in regards to young Cheren. During the first year stay here, she had heard that the Trio badge had been replaced with the Toxic badge and the Ice badge replaced with the Wave badge while everything seemed to stay the same.

        At best during her time here, none of her old companions knew of her current placement, much less her own location save with a few people here and there, as far as they had been convinced and then some, like Jin, Wizard, and N… she had long since left Unova at the first chance that she had gotten.

 

_“Theresa, you’ve done a lot in the past few years we’ve encountered each other,” Looker commented, checking some papers that the Brunette had given back to him._

_It was only recently, but she had encountered the man again since Kalos when he had come to her asking for her help in rounding up the remaining sages of Team Plasma. She gives an absent-minded shrug, that was saying something, she wasn’t even trying… she just had always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or so she had considered._

_Oh were they going to get an earful from the Brunette, that was for sure._

_“It’s mostly me bumbling around.” She replied, reaching to give Eve a scratch or two._

_“Yes well, Theresa… Have you thought about my offer?”_

_“Offer? To join Interpol yeah?” she asked, closing her eyes in thought. It wasn’t really called that, but at best that's what she could even remotely go for to get a reaction out of._

_“Er… it’s the International Police but--- yes Interpol, have you thought about it?” He asked with a huff._

_“Nah, I’ll pass on that.”_

 

        At best it had only been Professor Juniper, Drayden, Alder, and Looker that knew of her staying in Unova. In some aspect yeah it did kind of hurt to keep both Bianca and Cheren in the dark, but it wasn’t something she had been too keen on announcing to the rest of the world especially at best given how while Team Plasma was done and over with, but Ghetsis was missing and at the time it didn’t seem too bothersome to actually worry about him up until Looker had come to the conclusion that she was possibly at risk.

 

_“You’d be under better protection, Theresa.”_

_“I’ll pass on it still Looker, I’ve managed as far as I have. I think I can manage it a little bit more.” Theresa said, shaking her head._

_“Theresa--”_

_“I sort of made a promise and I want to keep it.”_

_“If we kept you moving around then he can’t find you, that’s why I offered it. However, there possibly could be a few strings pulled to keep you here instead and out of sight.”_

 

        So that had been the whole reason she found herself in the small, but gorgeous little city known as Aspertia city. It was fairly small but had a lovely view over the valley outside of the city. Its placement was the same as Floccesy Town and Virbank City, both of which were over the mountains opposite of Chargestone Cave. Needless to say, Theresa found herself loving the city despite earlier claims, it had sounded like Team Plasma hadn’t stayed in the area long and from the sounds of it, it seemed like the people had long since forgotten about them even being near the town.

        She didn’t mind the residents and she had managed to become pretty close to two children within the town, a young boy by the name of Hugh and a really endearing little girl who happened to be his sister, in a weird twist of things the two had come so far as to call her “Auntie”. At best, Theresa let herself roll with the punches and continued to let them call her that, it wasn’t as if that was causing any real harm and who be it for her to go and correct them to calling her “Miss” instead? Either option ended with her sounding older than she really was, but they were polite kids and she had accepted that fate.

        Removing herself away from her thoughts, she gave a gentle sigh before shifting around her Pokemon companion; Eevee, to get up from off of the couch to fetch something to drink. The past two years had been quiet and given how silent they had been she even wondered what the point even was for her staying in Unova in any way. There wasn’t anything more for her here now that the silence had proven that there was nothing to worry about and in all honesty she doubted that was going to be changing anytime soon, but if it did, she had figured she would find herself safer back in Hoenn than continuing to stay here.

        Theresa let out another sigh, sifting through her cups to pull out a mug that Drayden had given her a while back, a mug at best that had reminded him of Eve who had given him a complete run for his money all those years ago. It was obviously worn down from extensive use, meanwhile, the rest of her cupware had shown little to no wear on them.

        A chirping bark caused Theresa to snap back out of her thoughts yet again, causing her to put down her mug and to turn to the source of the sound and couldn’t help but give a small smile to her Pokemon companion.

        “Nice to see you finally up Eve,” she spoke, amusement heavy in her voice.

        Eve gave her a stern look before getting up from his spot on the couch to give a long and strong stretch before shaking himself like he had been dropped in water, the scarf he wore was still tattered and worn from all those years of extensive use, but nonetheless still carried his personality as well as a piece of his own personal power.

        “Right, right forgive me,” she spoke, stifling a small laugh.

        From there she went about to making up some Cider Green tea, there had been days that she found herself having a hard time and more often than not she always found herself to going and making that to drink, it didn’t have the most pleasant taste but in a lot of ways it really did help her.

        “You know something… I’ve been thinking…”

        Eve gave the Brunette a look as if daring her to say it.

        “I know, I know. That’s a dangerous thing to be doing, especially since it usually ends badly.. Very badly,” she replied, shivering at the thought of all the times it had ended extremely poorly for them.

        Eve then rolled his eyes at the brunette in response, at least what she assumed that the Eevee had done. Years later and she was still trying to learn the best way to identify what he was expressing, something of which was vastly different from the rest of her team.

        “The point to my thoughts Eve… is what even is the point of actually staying in Unova? I mean, it’s been two years and I seriously doubt we’re even being looked for anymore. Not to mention…. I need to stop carrying this…” She stopped to gesture to herself. “This burden… you know?”

        Eve gave her a confused look, not quite grasping what his self-claimed sibling was trying to say. She looked like she was about ready to continue on with her sentence before a quick and loud barrage of pounds began emanating from her front door.

        “What in the high heavens…”

        “Auntie!! Auntie!! Open up!”

        Theresa could hear faint whispering behind her door that was then followed by the sound of a rough sigh, signaling some kind of defeat from the bodiless voice.

        “Can you please open up Auntie? ….there I said please--”

        She knew who the owners of the voices were and she couldn’t help but let a smile make its way onto her face. There wasn’t a day that went by where she would ever refuse to let the two inside, during the time she had spent in the city she had seen both of them grow, only recently had she learned from their mother about how Hugh had expressed some interest in wanting to leave town to become stronger, it was probably his own desire that had fueled it with some minor assistance from her storytelling.

        The memory had served in reminding her of the first time she had gone to meet Professor Juniper per Professor Sycamore's suggestion, from that point she had then arrived to meet the professor and in doing so she met her own Unova partner as well as two hand-picked trainers that Juniper had been excited to ship out with a Pokedex.

        “I’m coming, I’m coming hold on--”

        Upon opening the door, she hadn’t expected to see Bianca behind Hugh and his sister. Her face becomes unreadable for a brief second before quickly fading away into childish bliss as she continued the rest of her sentence as if nothing had changed at all.

        “--you two... my goodness you’re impatient today! Care to establish why this time Hugh?” She asked, carefully watching Bianca’s expression and noting the absolute shock and fumbling behind her eyes as she struggled to find what exactly she had wanted to say. No doubt that the blonde was more so furious to some extent of having found out that the woman she had admired had been hiding out in Aspertia City.

        “I’m leaving Aspertia City today Auntie T!” Hugh exclaimed fist pumping in overflowing joy. “I wanted to tell you first thing before I left!”

        “Oh that’s beyond super exciting to hear Hugh! What exactly are you planning on doing during your journey?” Theresa asked a smile on her face as Bianca and his sister watched on, a sense of contentedness radiating from them.

        “Pssh, I’m going to go beat the Gyms to become stronger!” He proudly beamed, causing Bianca to look a tad confused before shaking it off and accepting his explanation at full front.

        “That’s actually pretty noble Little dude, I remember challenging some of the gyms here and man, I found a lot of them different from the ones I once experienced in the past. But I have a feeling that in my gut you’re gonna rock ‘em and hard.” Theresa chirped, smiling happily and receiving a giggle and two from his sister.

        “You haven’t changed much, have you, Theresa..?” Bianca shyly asked, breaking the brunette’s attention away from the teen and young girl.

        Theresa pursed her lips and closed her eyes in thought before slowly nodding in agreement with Bianca’s statement. “Why fix what isn’t broken? I’m perfect as is! Well… to uh some anyway, I mean… uh... Anyway! it’s uh... pretty good to see you again dear looks like the past two years have been good to you.”

        “O-oh! Yeah! I’ve been doing really well since we saw each other last!! I’ve been working as a Pokemon Professor’s aide and it’s been really fun. I’m glad that I’ve been able to figure out what I was meant for!” Bianca happily spoke, fidgeting with her hat. “When Professor Juniper sent me this way… I.. I didn’t know that you were the “Tessa” I was supposed to hand this over to, so when I couldn’t find you and ran into Hugh-- he told me that he knew where you were. I honestly didn’t know it was you, Theresa.”

        Theresa gave a soft hum then made a clicking noise with her tongue.

        “Yeah, that was something that Professor Juniper and Drayden came up with. Apparently, there was this theory that some nasty dude with a huge grudge was after me and it was the safest thing they could manage was to place me here and give me a different name.” She shrugged. “Could have been better than Tessa, note to anyone who wants to try and keep me under wraps… don’t let Looker make the name choice, by the way, he’s really shit at it, but anyway there was a point and I understand why.”

        Bianca gave Theresa a knowing look at who she had been vaguely talking about, the brunette being ever so thankful that Bianca didn’t outright announce who it was.

        “Wait... what?” Hugh spoke up, looking wide-eyed at the two older women. “Who are they? I’m going to battle them and make them regret trying to ever mess with you in the first place!”

        Theresa couldn’t help but smile at the outburst and going so far as to actually laugh. “Trust me, they’re long gone at this point and I seriously doubt they’ll come messing with me. Even if they wanted to though, I’m sure I’d teach them the same lesson.”

        Hugh gave a huff before balling his fists in front of him, sheer determination showing in his gray eyes, showing everyone that he already had his mind set up on what he was about to announce. The reaction itself was amusing to her to say in the very least, but it did make her look forward to what exactly the dark haired teen was going to announce.

        “If someone is looking for you, there’s no way I’m going to just walk off and let them waltz on in and mess with you!” He exclaimed, crossing his arms before quickly pulling his hand free to point at the Brunette all in a quick fluid motion. “So that means you should come with me so I can protect you!”

        “I’m not too sure about that, I mean who would be here protecting Aspertia city if I’m not around Hugh?” Theresa questioned, her brow raised in slight confusion as she looked over at Eve from the corner of her eye, hoping for some kind of defense from the small Pokemon. When she got nothing but an attempted shrug, she mentally called out Eve as a traitor.

        “Hmmm…”

        “If you don’t… uhm… mind me overstepping boundaries…” Bianca spoke up, fidgeting. “It’s been a couple years and I don’t know much about you still Theresa, but it might be good for you to actually take him up on that offer, go out and travel again for old time’s sake.”

        Theresa pondered on the thought, Bianca had a point in both aspects. It had been a couple years and in a way she had been more so prison bound to the city ever since she had agreed to stay here, her legs were itching to go and explore Unova yet again and a good chunk of her was still interested in meeting new Pokemon and making new friends. She could see it the way Eve looked at her and the people currently hanging out in her home, it would be good for Eve to get back out there again and encounter different Pokemon and meet new people, as well as her team.

        “You should go Auntie T!!” Hugh’s sister chirped, giving Eve a few good scratches under his chin. “Think of Eve!”

        She had Theresa there, it would really be good more so for Eve if anything, hell if she went out on another cross-country trek across Unova it might actually get her out of her current funk and into a more fresh viewpoint, it might even help her finalize on whether or not to stay in Unova or make the trip back to Hoenn.

        “Bleeeh… I SUPPOSE, I could go out and make the Journey with you Hugh. It just might do me some kind of good.” she replied, trying to BS her way into sounding like she was bullied into it, even though it was not the case and had caused her to receive a few giggles.

        Hugh jumped in joy, before going and landing himself a fist pump in victory over their combined effort to convince Theresa to go with him in an attempt to “protect” her from whoever he had assumed was still after her.

        “Now all of you get on out of here, I have some preparations to get to! We’ll be leaving first thing tomorrow, so Hugh! Get yourself prepared well and ready as well as to try and get yourself as much sleep as possible. It’s going to be a long day.” Theresa huffed, making a shooing motion at the three people standing in her home.

        There was a smile on Hugh’s face and he rushed on out of the house, his little sister trying to fall in behind him. Upon noticing that she was a tad bit behind, he rushed on back to her and picked her up before rushing on his way back home.

        Bianca gave her a small wave, she was about to leave before she clasped her hands together and made a soft gasping noise, then turned to face her old friend. “Before I forget, I’m sure Professor Juniper won’t mind, but tomorrow before you leave, I would like to give you a Pokemon… you know like old time’s sake?”

        Theresa gave her a soft smile before patting her on the head. “I’m sure she won’t, but I wouldn’t mind doing so like before.”

 

* * *

 

 

        It was early in the morning when Theresa forced herself up out from her bed, there was an extremely strong possibility that she wouldn’t be making it back to her home in Aspertia City but it wasn’t going to stop her from at least cleaning up the place a little bit and making her bed before she met up with Hugh and Bianca.

        Nostalgia pulled at her heart, the feeling of getting up early and leaving for a long trip with no possible thought of actually returning back to where she started was exhilarating to say in the very least. All her old memories came flooding back, nearly overwhelming her entirely before she took the step to take in a deep breath.

        Theresa then made a soft hum, tucking her bedsheets in on the bed before heading on over towards a fairly worn bag haphazardly laying on her desktop. Sure it was worn down and probably wasn’t the best bag to actually use for this tag along trip as it had the idle threat of ripping open sometime during the trip, however, it was a sturdy bag and she seriously doubted that it would break, but it did hold so many fond memories for her and it had proven multiple times to be some kind of good luck charm in her opinion.

        She softly ran a hand over the top of the bag, her hand rising and falling over a few pins here and there as well as some patches, only to slowly come to a stop over a well-worn pin that sat near the top of the bag, it was fairly worn down, but the general outline of its shape of the letter “M” was still ever so present, reminding her exactly when she had been given that pin.

        Eve made a chirping noise signifying that she needed to finish was it was she was doing and head out to the edge of the city, her silver companion stood in the doorway, spinning himself in a circle while he tried to rush her out.

    “I know buddy, I know.” Theresa huffed, rolling her eyes and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Question for you little buddy, do you want to stay in your Pokeball or are you good without it?”

        Eve tilted her head, looking as if he was pondering on whether or not he really wanted to stay in it or not. He gave a response and Theresa gave a delicate nod in understanding, Eve’s Pokeball had seen much better days since it had been given to her, a worn down Cherish ball was something her mother had thought was complimenting to the small silver Pokemon.

        No matter the answer that he had given her, she picked up the Pokeball and placed it safely on a section of the bag’s strap where it could be visible for people to see. Eve was still an exception Pokemon and for that, she was completely grateful, however, that wasn’t the only Pokeball she had found herself reaching to grab as well. The Brunette then reached for the four Pokeballs that sat on the top of the table to also latch-up onto the bag, they had their own sign of wear, but unlike Eve’s Cherish ball they had shown signs of having been opened fairly recently.

        “Alright, let’s get caught up with Hugh,” Theresa spoke, smiling happily at her companion.

        She leaned towards Eve and placed her hand palm down, to allow Eve to use it as a balancing board to get up onto her shoulder where he then situated himself comfortably without hurting her or himself, Theresa gave her companion a pat on the side then a soft scratch behind the ear.

        Theresa then took a second look around the small house and gave a small sigh before moving towards the kitchen to go and take out one last item to take with her, Eve gave her a confused chirp before she pulled out the mug that she had been using yesterday and tucking it into her bag.

        “Can’t forget this mug, you know. Besides, it’s pretty dang sturdy and you know… pretty sentimental.”

        Eve gave an agreeable chirp before the two of them began on out for their meetup.

* * *

 

       “Theresa!”

        “Auntie T!”

        “Apologies! Apologies! it looks like I’m the one whose last to show up.” Theresa joked, rubbing the back of her head.

        “I almost left without you! Almost!” Hugh spoke, accentuating his idle threat as he tried to hide a laugh.

        “I’m grateful you didn’t, though I’m sure you’d have been an astounding trainer by the time we crossed paths again!” Theresa chirped, a smile on her face.

        “It’ll be almost like old times! Going off on our own Journey and getting to grow as a person! Only, just with you and Hugh!” Bianca happily spoke, clapping her hands together in excitement. “Oh! Oh! That’s right!”

        “What’s right?” Hugh asked, looking confused and looking absolutely antsy. “Do you have something for Auntie T?”

        “Yes! Actually in addition to actually coming out this way and receiving such a shock, uhm... I’d like to let you pick one of these pokeballs.” She spoke, sounding rather awkward in her speech, but sounding at the same time as if she had been practicing it before actually telling the intended audience it was being aimed at.

        “This brings up old memories.”

        Theresa watched Bianca pull out a fairly large cylinder from her bag, the blonde pressed a button on the side of it and the cover casing slid away to reveal three red and white balls nestled softly on a white slim cushion. The sight made her remember back to when she had been allowed to pick out an Unovan starter Pokemon.

        “Really old, but really fond memories.”

        She stared at the three Pokeballs, thinking back on to the one she had first chosen and thinking on who she should choose as a partner this time around. Theresa had adored her Snivy and cheered him on when he finally evolved into a fairly powerful Serperior. She had a grand time being there and supporting her Pokemon team through both of their journey around Unova the first time and stopping Team Plasma, two years later she was finding herself picking out a new partner and starting a new journey into getting to know her new team.

        “Hmm…  I’m going to have to go with this little fella here.” Theresa spoke, gently taking the Pokeball on the left of the center one. “Little Oshawott here probably would love to take a trip with us.”

        “Oshawott’s a good choice! I’m sure he’s going to love traveling with you! I know my partner did.” Bianca happily chirped, shutting the cylinder and carefully putting it back into her bag.

        “Too many old and fond memories that’s for sure, anyway! I think we’ve drug this on long enough and I can tell that Hugh here is about really to explode with anticipation.” Theresa joked, glancing over at the dark-haired kid who looked like he was absolutely vibrating from overflowing excitement.

        “Let’s get going already! Yeah!” He shouted, bouncing up and down in place.

        “I recently heard that there was actually a gym here in Aspertia City… did you already go to challenge the Gym leader there, Hugh?” Bianca asked, looking fairly thoughtful and curious on whether or not the youngest trainer had done so or not.

        “I-- Uh…. Not yet…?” He spoke up, sounding completely awkward and partly embarrassed.

        “Is there really a gym here Bianca?” Theresa asked, looking absolutely curious. “Because I thought it was only in Virbank, not in Aspertia City.”

        “Oh! Oh! You must not have heard yet, have you? Ooooh” Bianca started up, looking ashamed that she hadn’t brought it up sooner. “Yeah, Aspertia City recently got one since Lenora isn’t running a Gym anymore because of her work.”

        “Well, I’ll be… huh, I guess I should spend more time wandering around the town rather than just going to the store and back again like clockwork,” Theresa mused, humming only slightly. “Well, if that’s the case, then we should make a quick track on over to the gym and take on the leader.”

        “Yeah! I mean, y-yeah” Hugh spoke up, crossing his arms and looking away with a huff.

        “I don’t know whether or not I actually have to renew badges seeing as I haven’t stayed in a Region long enough to do so, but it might just be a little bit of fun. Maybe see about convincing the Gym leader to do a double battle with Hugh and I.”

        “Well, uhm... There are two new badges this year. So if either one of you even wants to go to the league, then it would be best to get those new badges too.” Bianca offered, smiling sweetly.

        “That sounds good enough to me! Let’s go, Auntie T! Let’s goooo!!!” Hugh shouted, running straight on ahead of the two girls and back into town.

        Theresa couldn’t help but smile and shake her head, at least there was going to be some kind of excitement during this trip and maybe this time she’d actually get to enjoy Unova without the threat of an evil group trying to take over it.


	2. Trainers vs. Aspertia City Gym!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugh and Theresa take on Cheren in a rare double battle happenstance.

        “First gym in this long trip and it’s a normal type, that’s a real change of pace compared to the one in Striation City.” She absentmindedly spoke, humming in fond memory.

        “Striation City… wasn’t that one the one where they had their Pokemon based off of the one you started with?” Hugh asked as the two of them made their way through the Pokemon School and Gym combo building.

        “Spot on there Hugh, yup. Back when I started my cross-country trip across Unova I started with the same Pokemon you have as a partner. It was a tough battle, but had I not gotten a Panpour I would have been toast.” She mused, looking absolutely at ease of retelling the story.

        “Whoaaa…. How close were you to losing if you hadn’t gotten Panpour?”

        “Real close, so much so that I would have hunkered down somewhere to give myself some breathing time to figure out an alternative. Which had been a close thing quite a few times, some of the gyms here were the toughest ones I have ever faced.”

        “Do you think this Gym will be tough? I mean, I totally doubt it because there’s nothing that can stop my partner and I!”

        Theresa couldn’t help but give a small giggle, there was an insane amount of cockiness and determination that oozed out of her young friend, it helped her to recall just how much of an opposite Cheren had been when she journeyed with him and Bianca. However, it didn’t change much from either one of them as it gave them a type of flavor in personality that helped remind her that like Pokemon, people were different and it lives worth continuing to live and continuing to travel.

        “I don’t doubt your capabilities, but if we can convince the Gym leader here then I’ll show you what Eve and I are all about as well,” Theresa responded, patting her silver companion.

        “Hey Auntie T--”

        “Yes, Hugh?”

        “I wanted to ask---”

        “Theresa? Is that you?”

        Their conversation was cut short when the two looked to see who the new voice was when they spotted that it was Cheren, Theresa became extremely mum while Hugh looked between the two of them as the air seemed to somehow feel thicker than it had been earlier, piecing two and two together.

        “Uhm… yeah, in the flesh!” She awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of her head while Eve and Hugh began to carefully watch Cheren.

        “I thought you left Unova after the whole deal with Team Plasma and that N character,” Cheren spoke, adjusting his glasses.

        “Yeah well... That’s the kind of story that Professor Juniper and uhm… Drayden thought was best to stick within case something foul happened. Sorry for not getting into contact with you sooner, but Looker told me that it was best to keep low… so uh it was probably for the best… you know?” She spoke, now moving to awkwardly play with her hands. “Probably mad aren’t cha?”

        “Not mad per say, more... disappointed. If I knew I would have lend you a hand.” Cheren spoke, sounding indifferent.

        “Sorry, but not sorry to interrupt you and Auntie T. But--- Are you the Gym leader?” Hugh asked, slicing through the awkwardness like it was nothing.

        "Auntie T…? Oh, uh Yes, yes I am. Are you perhaps a Challenger then?” Cheren looked momentarily confused then quickly switched from it to professionalism.

        "We both are! Auntie T was going to try and convince you do battle the both of us instead of a single battle!” Hugh huffed, looking pumped and ready to battle. “But it looks more like the two of you are engrossed in wanting to talk like Bianca and her did earlier---”

        “Double Battle? That’s a little out there and a bit unexpected to be requested. I’m not specialized in double battles and neither are the other Gyms.” Cheren spoke, looking rather thoughtful at the bold request.

        Hugh looked fairly crestfallen, but it didn’t seem to deter him with the hope that a double battle could be done, he looked over at Theresa with the look in his eyes telling her to try and convince her to get him to say yes. The way that Theresa had described it seemed like a fairly good idea and would get them to the second Gym in no time flat so they could catch a ferry to Castelia City and continue on with the trip.

        “Hmm… I suppose I could take you both up on that request. It would be a good experience for your friend here, there’s no telling when you just might get pulled into a double battle.”

        Hugh gave a loud and happy “YES” at the answer, even throwing in an excited and overly happily fist pump in the minor victory. Theresa couldn’t help but laugh just a tad bit before smiling over in Cheren’s direction, catching the leader off guard.

        “Thank you so much for this Cheren.” She replied, smile still on her face while Eve looked absolutely proud of himself.

* * *

        “Battle Begin!” One of the trainers shouted, pulling both of their hands down from their placement in the air.

        “Lillipup, go!” Cheren spoke, releasing a small black and brown canine from its ball, the small Pokemon shook itself off and got into a fighting stance with a sheer look of determination as they awaited their battle partner. “Patrat, go!”

        “Eve! I choose you!” Theresa let out a soft hum and held out her arm so that Eve could run down it and use it as a ramp to jump off of and onto the dirt covered ground. Eve held out his stance and held a look of determination in his eyes as he puffed out his neck fur in an intimidation tactic.

        Hugh tossed his Pokeball out towards the field and out from the ball popped out his pride and joy Snivy, who in turn had his combat stance ready for the double battle. “Let’s do this Partner!”

        Snivy and Eve shared a look before they began to patiently wait for their partner’s commands, it didn’t take much of a second before Theresa had issued out her command to her longtime friend, egging him into using a base normal move and curtsy of the old worn silk scarf around his neck, the attack had succeeded in knocking Cheren’s Patrat a good distance away with some good damage. His Patrat managed to recover from the blow and attempted to lay some type of damage on the silver Pokemon, only to barely make any dent into him.

        While the Patrat and Eve were focused on each other, Hugh’s Snivy and Cheren’s Lillipup were going at each other in the same intense manner that Eve and Patrat had been. For a while it had seemed like the Lillipup had the upper hand up until the last command that Hugh had issued, which succeeded in knocking the Lillipup back and out, resulting to Cheren trying to urge the Canine Pokemon back up only for them to stay down and out for the count. Catching Hugh to watch the last moment of Theresa’s Eevee taking down and finishing off the Patrat, thus ending the battle between the two of them and Cheren.

        “Battle over! The Winners! Theresa of New Bark and Hugh of Aspertia City!”

        In a happy and contented manner, the two of them turned to face each other to give a high five in response with their victory.

        “That was a fairly intense battle, but it proved that the two of you were well adept with your Pokemon Partners. I’m amazed you actually went and used Eve for this Battle, Theresa.” Cheren spoke, he sounded full of mirth.

        “Eve needs an occasional stretch here and there, besides… Osha is gonna be having a grand ol’ time very soon. That’s for sure.” She said, a smile present on her face.

        “My first battle as a Gym Leader and I got taken out by an old friend and a first time Challenger, I would say that I would be upset about it normally, but in this case, I’ll make an exception, amazing that Alder missed out on this,” Cheren said absentmindedly. “Anyway, as the rules state. When a Challenger defeats the Gym leader, they are obligated to hand out the Badge signifying the trainer’s victory.”

        Cheren pulled out two of the same badge and handed one to Hugh and then Theresa, which prompted him to receive a very confused look on the Brunette’s face.

        “Given that we have two new Gyms and since a lot has changed in the past two years, I’m obligated to give you this badge Theresa. Trainers that obtained badges in the past, should they attempt to continue pursuing the Pokemon League are required to get new badges and knowing you. I have a hunch that you and Hugh here are going to go straight to the top.” Cheren explained, folding her hand over the badge he’d given her.

        “That answers that question, I tried asking Bianca about it but she didn’t really have an answer on it.”

        “That’s understandable, same old Bianca huh?”

        “We got the Basic badge!! Now we can continue on!” Hugh exclaimed, jumping in the air. “I’m gonna head to Floccesy Town! Meet you there Auntie T!” And with that Hugh ran straight on out of the Gym, at this point Theresa had figured--- she was going to have a hard time keeping up with him.

        "He’s handful huh?” Cheren said, watching in the same direction that the teen had run off in.

        “More or less, he’s got a part of himself already figured out.”

        “He still has a way to go, doesn’t he? I know I did, even when Alder told me that I needed to understand myself better and what I want to become.”

        “Mm... “ Theresa started up. “I remember that you were too stubborn to believe him the first time around, but you’ve grown a lot, I can tell you that.”

        “What about you Theresa? Any reason you’re traveling along with him?” Cheren asked, curious about her answer.

        “Not really, he asked me to come with him when he heard about the possibility of someone trying to hurt me. He’s convinced that he has to protect me as well, he’s a rowdy kid I’ll give him that. But a part of me figures that this trip might be good for my health one way or another and if I keep moving it might make me remember what I’ve forgotten and if I’m lucky… I might run into N again.”

        “You’re counting on running into him? After the trouble he caused?”

        “It wasn’t really his fault, from what I listened to from what that man Ghetsis said… it sounded like N was manipulated into believing what he believed in, but to me… from what it sounded like, despite the manipulation that lead up into that… N really did want what was best for the Pokemon and people, even if Team Plasma and Ghetsis had used him.”

        Cheren was silent for a while, taking in what Theresa had told him. Two years was a long time to take everything in that happened and a lot of it the People chose to forget while others remembered and even then, by the time all was said and done, the damage had already been done. Nevermind the fact that it had more so felt like N was obsessed with Jin, Wizard, and Theresa from Cheren’s standpoint, so much so that he even wondered if their trio had even noticed it or not.

        Admittedly though from Theresa’s end, she had seen N more as a confused young Adult unsure of how to exactly interact with people given his past and he had latched onto her and her group in a way that made him feel like they understood what he was trying to say and convey. In a strange and weird way, she had to admit that while he probably wouldn’t use the word, but she felt that she had seen the four of them as some weird and strange friends.

        “That’s what you’re going to stick with huh?” Cheren asked. “Because knowing you, once you have your mindset… it’s almost impossible to break you away from it.”

        “Ah ha, you know me so well Cheren and it’s been two years since we last saw each other.” Theresa laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “I probably should get going, I shouldn’t let myself get too far behind from Hugh. He’s a good kid, but a little hard-headed.”

        “You’ll have to stop by and visit sometime, that or I can try and get a hold of you on the Xtransceiver.”

        “Hmm… That sounds like a good idea Cheren, I think I still have your contact information… provided you didn’t change it.”

        “I haven’t.”

        “That makes it easier, catch you on the flip side then?”

        Cheren gave her a swift nod before waving goodbye at the brunette, who couldn’t help but wave back at the dark haired teen. Eve re-positioned himself upon her shoulder and eagerly awaited their next destination.


	3. Battle at Floccesy Ranch

        Theresa made her way down the route to Floccesy town, it was fairly quiet save for the sound of the Pokemon making a noise here and there. It was a nice change of pace with Hugh upon ahead of her and Eve with his Snivy, however the lack of having the noisy and rambunctious teen around had already found her feeling fairly lonely again. But knowing how Hugh was, it wouldn’t be too long before she encountered him again and in the least likely of all places, however, hearing someone call her name from just outside of the town was enough to catch her attention.

        “Huh…?” She muttered, looking around to try and find the owner of the voice who had been calling out her name.

        “Theresa!”

        When she got closer to the source of the noise she couldn’t help but give a friendly smile to the owner of voice, seeing the red-headed Alder again was a nice sight for sore eyes, it had been some time since she had last seen the former League Champion and it was overwhelmingly pleased to see him doing much better than he had been before.

        “Alder! So good to see you again!” Theresa exclaimed, waving at him from where he currently stood. “Still hanging out on the high ledges I see.”

        Alder gave a hearty laugh, then jumped down to where she stood going over to the Brunette to pet the Silver Eevee on her shoulder. Eve responded with a contented chirp, leaning closer to the hand that continued to pet him, Alder had been the only person within Unova that Eve had voluntarily allowed to touch him, much less pet him.

        “Nice to see you again too kiddo, same to Eve,” Alder responded, ceasing his pets on the Eevee before patting the Brunette on the head. Eve responded to the gesture with a mild glare before accepting that it had been all said and done. “I’m surprised that you’re taking the initiative to leave Aspertia City, kind of figured you were going to stay there for a while longer.”

        “Some things came up here and there, I got offered the chance to travel alongside someone and.. Well, I think its about time to get up and fully explore Unova this time instead of having to take constant side trips.” Theresa said, shrugging in attempt to establish it was her best answer. “Besides… As nice as Unova is, I can’t stay here forever… it’s just not in my nature.

        “I see, there’s a lot to catch up on. Why don’t you come on over and we can talk a bit more there, it’s a tad warm out here and a bit open for private affairs.”

        Theresa thought about it, stealing a small glance from Eve before shaking her head. As much as it would be nice to chat away with Alder, she needed to catch up to Hugh before she was lost behind the dust that the teen was leaving in his wake.

        “As humble of an offer that sounds Alder, I’ll have to save that offer for another day.”

        “Oh is that so?”

        “Yeah, I’m actually trying to catch up with someone. He told me that he would meet me in Floccesy Town and I’m sure he’s going to become too damn impatient to wait for me to catch up to him.” Theresa answered. “Given your penchant of hanging out in high places, you haven’t seen Hugh run by here have you?”

        “Hmm…” Alder hummed, closing his eyes in thought recalling who and all had come down the route today. “He wouldn’t happen to have dark hair and be about around this height would he?” To best establish the height that he was talking about, he held his hand up in a general rough estimate.

        “Yeah, exactly that actually.”

        “He seemed to be quite in a rush towards Route 20, he must be extremely eager to get to Virbank city.” He mused, “I recall that when I first met you and Cheren, he had been adamant on becoming strong rather than forming such close bonds with his Pokemon.”

        Theresa nodded, in some ways it honestly felt like a lifetime ago that the had even met Alder and learned how important those bonds were, the one she had with Eve had been one thing as they had been together ever since she was a little girl. The conversation that Alder and Cheren had then reminded her once again just how important the relationship between Humans and Pokemon were, even if she had been dangerously close to believing in who N had originally been trying to tell others.

        “I don’t think Cheren ever forgot that I know I didn’t.”

        Eve gave a satisfied nod to Theresa’s response, given how much the of them had been through, the silver Pokemon honestly had hoped that his longtime friend didn’t forget.

        “You said he was somewhere on Route 20, yeah?” She asked.

        “More like heading to Route 20, but by this point, I would assume that he’s already somewhere on there. No doubt training his Pokemon in the grass and the trainers there.”

        “Sweetness! Thanks for helping me out here Alder, I know I’ll have to come back this way sometime and maybe have a cup of tea, catch up and all of that.”

        Theresa waved bye to the former champion and turned on her heel, this time running towards to Route 20 in the hopes to catch up with the rambunctious teenager. Hugh had been pretty determined to leave out on this trip around Unova and a part of her wondered if there had been more of a reason behind it rather than what he had previously said yesterday.

        Shaking it out, she continued making a beeline to Route 20, the Brunette and Eve had spent some time trying to find Hugh out on the Route, going so far as to ask and battle a few trainers here and there in the hopes that they could drop some kind of hint on whether or not they had seen him, some of them had an answer for her while others didn’t and if they didn’t then she thanked them for their time anyway while they had, in turn, thanked her for the battles with their Pokemon and it had been a good chance for her to get her Oshawott some training in.

        “Floccesy Ranch huh?” She asked herself, noting Eve sharing the same interest in the large sign leading into a farmland. “I guess we should look here next then.”

        Eve gave a chirping response, dedication, and courage reflecting in his brown eyes as they went on through the grounds.

        Theresa glanced around the farmland, trying to see if she could find Hugh amongst the grass fields and the Milktanks and Mareeps wandering freely across the grounds, it didn’t take her too long to spot his dark colored head amongst the pinks, yellows, and greens.

        “There you are Hugh, so much for waiting at the gates of Floccesy huh?” Theresa asked in a joking manner.

        “I.. well, I couldn’t help myself…?” Hugh spoke up, running a hand through his hair sheepishly. “Besides! While you were lagging behind Auntie T, I took the time to train my Snivy some more and get myself another Pokemon partner! The more the merrier you used to say right?”

        “That is true.” She nodded a smile present on her face once again.

        “Oh! I have an idea, Auntie T!” Hugh quickly shouted, causing Theresa to jump in surprise at the sudden raised voice.

        “And what‘s that Hugh?” She asked, her and Eve only slightly tilting their heads in curiosity.

        “We should have a Pokemon battle! You against me! I want to see how much stronger Snivy is!” Hugh beamed, looking pleased with having made the suggestion.

        Theresa gave him a thoughtful look, then closed her eyes in thought. She at first thought against going his suggestion with the general idea that his Pokemon could get hurt, but that’s how it generally was with any and all Pokemon Battles right? They’d be a tad bit sore afterwards and in some way she had to admit that N was rubbing off on her two years later, but at the same time it had occurred to her that it would good for her Oshawott if they got the chance to at least battle once, it would be a good experience in the end.

        “Hmm... That’s not a bad idea, it would give both of our Pokemon a good shot at experience and would help give a better understanding.” Theresa spoke, nodding in agreement with her own thought.

        Seeing Hugh’s face light up in absolute joy was more than enough to continue to bring a smile upon her face, at this point she had been beyond glad for Hugh and his sister to be calling her “Auntie”

* * *

        The two of them took their places on opposite ends of an established field, from there they sent out their chosen Pokemon to start the battle. Eve watched from his place on Theresa’s shoulder while Osha looked to prepare himself for the battle against Hugh’s Snivy who looked like he was up and ready to go on up against Osha.

        After the two of them had announced go, everything began to take off from there. Both Pokemon went all out at each other and admittingly it was a nice sight to see, watching the little grass type going against her water type and seeing Hugh take form of each of the commands he gave for his Pokemon was enough to make her admire him completely with the dedication he was showing for this small Pokemon battle, admittedly though the battle itself seemed like it was beginning to come to a close as their two pokemon began to show more and more signs of exhaustion and to let them continue to a breaking point would have given her more than enough shame to last her on for the next couple of years.

        “Let’s finish up shall we Osha?” She shouted, catching her Pokemon’s attention. “Let’s give Hugh’s Snivy a good one last hit, knock him down with Tackle!”

        Osha nodded in response to the command and went to strike one final hit on Snivy.

        “Try to dodge it Snivy!” Hugh shouted, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

        Given the best effort Hugh’s Pokemon could give, he had been unable to avoid the final attack that Osha sent out his way and knocked Snivy straight into the ground, forcing the grass type to slide some good distance across the ground and towards Hugh. Thus effectively ending the battle between Theresa and him.

        “Time to rest partner…” Hugh said with a sigh, a soft smile on his features as he returned his Pokemon back to its ball.

        Theresa issued a ‘good job’ to Osha before doing the same thing that Hugh had done, she gave a proud smile towards him however when she made her way back towards the Teenager.

        “You and your Pokemon did a pretty good job there Hugh, I’m proud of the effort you were pulling the whole time battling me.” She spoke, smile ever so growing. “You really are going to go far aren’t you?”

        “Y-yeah,” Hugh said before looking happily at the Brunette. “That was a really intense fight, I’m glad I got to battle against you, Auntie! My partner really tried his best to take down your’s, I think he and I might need to get some more training in. We want to able to become strong enough to protect the ones we care about.”

        “That’s a good goal I think, I’m sure Alder would have approved of that.” She hummed, nodding in contentment.

        “Oh Goodness, I thought it was lively around here! You were having a Pokemon battle weren’t you two? Isn’t it nice to be so young!”


	4. Trouble at Floccesy Ranch?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speak of the Devil and he shall come to you... right?
> 
> However, it's more like think about him at this point and he makes an appearance against your better Judgement.

        Hugh, Theresa, and Eve turned around at the source of the voice to find a middle-aged couple standing behind them, between the two of them stood a Herdier looking like it was sizing the two of them up. Eve took the challenge that was apparently issued by the canine Pokemon and gave a similar look back at them but stopped the minute that Theresa had nudged him gently in the side.

        “Who are you?” Hugh asked, looking partly suspicious at the two people standing before them.

        “Huh…? Who am I?” The man responded, looking partly taken aback before letting out a good hearty laugh at the accusing question that Hugh had issued to him. “Well now! I’m Mitch, the owner of this ranch! And this lovely woman here is my wife, Karen!”

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mitch and Karen, I’m Theresa and this is Hugh.” Theresa kindly spoke, bowing only slightly in acknowledgment. “I apologize for the battle we had on your Ranch, we should have actually looked for you and asked you before we actually battled.”

        “Haha, it’s quite alright Theresa, what’s more, harmless than a Pokemon battle?” Mitch asked, obviously amused and pleased at having been able to witness it.

        “Speaking of…” Karen started. “After having a Pokemon battle, both of you should probably heal up your Pokemon, right? Ooooh, here! I’ll give you this.”

        Karen reached into her bag and pulled out a small potion bottle, then gently handed it to Theresa before going to pull out another potion bottle to hand over to Hugh, all the way having a gentle smile on her face as she did so. Theresa had been able to catch a small minor glimpse in her eyes of sorrow, one similar to that of someone who had lost something ever only so recently. The Brunette was about to say something, but bit her tongue and left the question in the back of her mind.

        Mitch looked thoughtful for a moment before taking the chance to speak up and ask the two of them a fairly strange question. “Hmm… By the way, you didn’t happen to see a Herdier anywhere around here have you? I can’t seem to find where they went.”

        “I don’t think we have…” Theresa spoke, connecting the flicker of sorrow from Karen’s eyes to the question.

        “Hmm… it’s really strange, our Herdier are always together. They’ve never been apart the whole time we’ve had them and this is the first time even one of them has wandered off… so at best we’re a little bit worried.” Mitch explained, sounding dishelven.

        In a brief moment, Theresa had caught a flicker of anger and even brief flicker of pain come across Hugh’s expression when she turned to face him and before she could even get in a word edgewise she had found herself partly recoiling at his sudden outburst.

        “You’re a LITTLE worried?!” He Shouted. “Are you KIDDING me?! Your Pokemon might be lost forever!”

        Karen and Mitch looked shocked at the outburst and Theresa was trying to recover from the initial shock of it, while Eve himself had been shaking his head for some time now trying to get the ringing out from his ears.

        “Hnn Whatever! I’ll look! Auntie Theresa! Help out!” Hugh huffed, before rushing headlong into the deeper parts of the Ranch, leaving a partly unreadable Theresa and a still overly shocked Karen and Mitch behind.

        “That’s a first…” Theresa mused to herself if anything it had been completely unpredictable as he hadn’t learned of her real name up until yesterday when he had brought Bianca over to Theresa’s place. His outburst was enough to have her add a couple more pieces to an unseen puzzle that would help explain why Hugh had even wanted to become stronger in the first place, whatever the reason it was.. Theresa was finding herself more and more curious as to why...

        “Why did he get so mad…?” Mitch asked, completely recovered from the shock and now confused by the sudden anger that had been exhibited. “I mean, they’re probably just playing somewhere in the Ranch…”

        His wife gave a soft hum before she offered to speak up as well. “I wonder…. Pushing that aside, if your Pokemon get hurt Theresa, please don’t hesitate to ask me to help them recover.”

        Theresa nodded, “Thank you very much, Karen.”

* * *

 

        Hugh and Theresa had spent some time looking around the main part of the ranch for the missing Herdier, when they couldn’t find them in the main section Theresa had offered to try looking in the back part of the ranch, assuming that it was possible that the missing Herdier could have wandered somewhere back there and had gotten stuck in an upturned root branch. Hugh had taken to the idea of searching back there and agreed that it could have been possible for the Herdier to be somewhere back there and while he had verbally agreed, Theresa could see it in his eyes that it didn’t feel right.

        “It’s amazing how big this Ranch is Auntie,” Hugh commented as he looked around at the trees and in the underbrush.

        “It’s very sizable that’s for sure.” She said, looking further down the off beaten path. “I’m going to check down further this way Hugh.”

        “Okay” Hugh replied, nodding along with his response.

        As she began to wander further into the off trails, she could hear Hugh muttering to himself “Pokemon don’t just wander off on their own…” as if he was thinking hard about whether or not there was something more deeper than their currently was.

        Given past experiences, she would have assumed that Team Plasma was behind it or even so far as to assume Team Rocket had made their way over to Unova, only to shoot both of them down seeing as she had completely destroyed what was left of Team Rocket and smashed Team Plasma down into them running away like a Poochyena with its tail in between its legs. Given what Mitch had assumed, she could second that seeing that it probably wasn’t the first time that a Pokemon would have gone and done just that and run off to play somewhere else.

        The further that she and Eve got, the more she was beginning to even wonder if she would even be able to find the missing Herdier. That was up until something caught Eve’s attention that was causing him to be focused in one general direction, he stood stark still before growling only slightly and attempting to bark at whatever it was that had gotten his attention. Theresa took the plunge and moved closer to where Eve was standing and then found what exactly it was that had gotten her friend’s attention in the first place, she could hear the faint sound of a Pokemon making some kind of commotion. Out of the three looking for the Missing Herdier, apparently only two of them had actual good enough hearing as the moment that Theresa had been finally able to hear the noise, Hugh had come bursting out from wherever he had been previously and sliding across the ground as he scrambled to get to where she and Eve were at.

        “Auntie T! Did you hear that?” Hugh exclaimed, looking around wildly. “It might be Herdier! I’m gonna look over this way and see if they’re over here, think you can look over that way in the grove?” he asked.

        Theresa nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I can do just that Hugh. Come on Eve, let’s go find the source.”

        She then rushed further into the Grove with Eve tailing on behind her as fast as his small silver legs could carry him, the closer they got, however, they could hear the faint whines of a Pokemon and fairly harsh whispers from the same spot as the Pokemon, making it an A for effort.

        Both Theresa and Eve rushed around the corner and found themselves skidding to a stop at the sight of someone dressed in black & gray clothing as if they were attempting to dress like a covert Police officer, only to fail at the outfit itself. Along with them happened to no doubt be the missing Herdier that Mitch and Karen had been looking for almost all day.

        “Hey! Hey you!” Theresa shouted, catching the person’s attention away from the Pokemon. “Back away from that Herdier!”

        In their state of shock of having been found, the attempted kidnapper gave a sharp kick towards the Herdier, causing them to hit the ground and let out a yelp of pain. Theresa couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of them doing that to the Herdier and neither could Eve from the sounds of the growls that were beginning to emanate from the silver Pokemon.

        “Hey! You found them! What a major relief!” Hugh shouted from outside the Grove, happiness radiating from his tone of voice. “I’m gonna go call their Trainer, so stay with them, Auntie T!”

        Theresa acknowledged what Hugh had shouted and chose to face off against the person who had harmed the Herdier, she was well prepared to start battling them if she had to with Eve and the way she saw it, there was no way she was going to let this creep get away with hurting the poor Pokemon.

        “You little pest!” They shouted, glaring at Theresa with anger. “Look what you’ve done!”

        “I’m far from little you punk, you’re going to pay for hurting that Herdier!” She responded, raising her hand from her side only slightly, Eve gave a side glance over at the Brunette and eagerly awaited for her to issue the command for a Pokemon Battle.

        They had looked annoyed at Theresa’s statement but looked to have chosen to ignore it before they began to speak up yet again. Trying to sound fairly high and mighty about it at best, something that seemed only vaguely familiar to her, but not enough to jog any memory from her.

        “I’m a member of a group that strikes fear into the hearts of those who stand before it: Team Plasma!” They shouted, looking fairly smug at the comment and expecting some kind of scared reaction out of the Brunette.

        Theresa couldn’t help but scoff at the comment, she looked like she was unconvinced by their statement and simply rolled her eyes before placing a hand on her hip as she looked absolutely annoyed and unconvinced, tearing down her battle stance as well as Eve’s.

        “Yeah right, and I’m the Leader of Team Rocket.” She sarcastically spoke, rolling her eyes yet again. “You’re at best delusional, Team Plasma is no more and I would know since I was one of the ones that tore the very foundation out from under them.”

        “W--what?!” The Grunt exclaimed, looking shocked at the statement Theresa had just made. “Y-you can’t be one of them! They left years ago!”

        “Yeah, see about that--”

        “W-whatever! No matter, these fools will never understand us and there’s no way you can stop us this time either if you really are one of them!” The Grunt started up, looking fairly dodgy while Theresa slowly made the move to order Eve to attack them. “First I get lost chasing this Herdier and now a nosy girl claiming to be _one of them_ caught me! Rrrrgh--- ALL of this is your fault! TAKE THIS!”

        Theresa let out a squeak of shock and minor terror the moment the Plasma grunt threw something in her general direction, Eve out of natural instinct leapt up and knocked the projectile out of Theresa’s way, causing it to hit the ground with a loud smack. Causing some minor confusion between both her and Eve, when that confusion cleared away Theresa noticed that the item that had been thrown at her was a TM marked 21 on the top of it. It took her a couple minutes to piece together the fact that this member of Plasma had thrown an item at her instead of attempting to actually battle her like the ones in previous past.

        They threw something at her! Threw!

        “Ha! Distracted you! With that--- I retreat for now!” The grunt shouted, running towards Theresa and shoving her aside as he made his escape, leaving the Brunette absolutely confused by the attempted distraction… and here she thought that the Aqua and Magma Grunts were the most creative.

        “...Gotta let him know….”

        Theresa stared off in the general direction that the Grunt had gone in, confusion racking in her mind about who the grunt was talking about in general, there was a number of possible people but none that she could think of right off the bad except for possibly one person….

        “Auntie T!”

        Theresa lost her train of thought the minute that she heard Hugh’s voice call out to her, she then focused her attention on the Herdier who had instantly become happy and pleased that it was only her now and was bouncing around back and forth by her. She felt momentarily relieved knowing that they seemed to be okay now, but she wasn’t so much sure knowing that she wasn’t able to do anything about the Grunt that hurt them in the first place.

        “Herdier!”

        Mitch rushed over to where Theresa, Eve, and Herdier stood with Hugh trailing right on behind him. Mitch looked absolutely beside himself at the reunion of him and his Pokemon and that had been enough to fix the regret that the Brunette had for not being able to do anything about it earlier.

        “What on Earth made you come all the way back here buddy?” Mitch asked Herdier as he went over to give the Pokemon a few good scratches behind the ear. “Well… at any rate, I’m beyond grateful for both of your help in finding them!”

        “Hmmm” Hugh hummed before speaking up. “You’re kind of awfully calm about this, I mean… your Pokemon might have almost been gone for good! You really should take better care of it! Anyway… I’ll meet you on Route 20, Auntie T.”

        Theresa simply nodded, getting herself mentally ready to rush on after him, she turned to face Mitch to tell him thank you when she noted the thoughtful look on his face.

        “Something wrong?” She asked.

        “Nothing… I’m just…. I wonder if something happened to him, it just seems like… he’s afraid of losing Pokemon….”

        “Hmm… it’s possible he could be, I mean… I honestly don’t know. I’ve only lived in his hometown for two years and…. It feels like to me it predates that…”

        Mitch let out a hum, agreeing with what Theresa had told him and choosing not to press it further since she didn’t have a diligent answer. “Well anyway, come on Herdier. I’m sure everyone is waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of it seems kind of choppy and I apologize, I haven't been writing for months before I started up this project like almost two months ago.


	5. Virbank city Battle?

        Theresa, Eve, and Hugh had once again gotten separated on their way to Virbank City. She honestly didn’t know where the dark haired teen was currently at now and she had the utmost confidence that the two of them would run into each other yet again sometime here seeing as it looked to be that the Ferry Captain was nowhere to be found, and if they were nowhere to be found with their ship docked, it more than likely meant that Hugh was around there somewhere as well, waiting for the Ferry to become operational again. Most of the people in the town, when she had asked them, told her that it was probably best to ask the Gym leader if she knew where they were, seeing as it was apparent that the Captain just so happened to be the Leader’s Father.

        Recalling an old bout and hard time dealing with Poison Pokemon, a resident of Virbank had told her that her best bet was to try and find a Magnemite to help her out when she faced the Poisonous Gym leader seeing as he hadn’t had a problem battling her when he had one in his party, especially given that she probably wasn’t going to give the Brunette an answer unless she battled them. It was a nice typing refresher in her case, seeing as she had been off the grid for so long and hadn’t engaged in any Pokemon battles during that time. Needless to say, she had found it quite difficult to try and find one in the first patch of grass within the Virbank complex. Every so often she, Osha, Wynter, Venni, Gardenia, Grimlock, and Eve found themselves in the Pokemon center healing.

        After a few more tries or so, Theresa had managed to run across a Growlithe and caught him. She usually went for short nicknames on her Pokemon, but a part of her felt the need to name the newly caught Growlithe something special… thus ending with her making the bold choice of naming him after Maxie, in some strange aspect she wondered if he would have been proud to know that she had gone and named the noble Pokemon after him, it probably would have tickled him just smidgen to say in the very least.

        However, given that she had been rather avoidant on contacting him or Archie… she figured it was best not to even attempt to make contact just yet. Not long after she had caught the Growlithe however, she had run into the Pokemon that she had originally set out to catch in the first place. Only to then decided that she could try her luck with the newly caught Growlithe and the rest of her old team.

        “Alright, I think we have a sturdy enough team. Do you Eve?” She asked Eve, who beamed in absolute pride and joy at his new Pokemon companion’s ball. “I think I’m going to go with yes on your end then.”

        The two made their way back into the City and for a short while had found themselves lost until they went to ask one of the Residents who had been kind enough to lead them to the Gym’s location. Needless to say, there were a lot of thank yous for their help before the two of them began to survey the appearance of the Gym, which was fairly interesting in terms of layout and design she had to admit.

        Unova wasn’t that far off the mark with their creativity and she had to admit that they had a huge soft spot in her heart, but they just simply paled in comparison to those of Kalos. However during the trek down to the performance floor where the Leader was, she couldn’t help but think about her previous encounter with that Plasma Grunt, the outfit was different that’s for sure and, to be honest she had to admit that they did look better than the Chainmail getup, however they still seemed to lack some kind of personality behind it.

        What bothered her the most though was what said Plasma Grunt had told her, which greatly concerned her. She took them out two years ago, they should have stayed down and buried without N to lead them on. If anything the minute N had learned the truth about Plasma’s purpose he had been quick to question himself and quick to take Zekrom with him and leave, something she honestly could not blame him for. If anything, she seriously would have doubted that N would have returned. Because after he had left, Reshiram had returned back to their stone and had been extremely quiet since then...

        So it couldn’t be at all possible that N was leading this revival, it could have been the same deal back in Johto with Team Rocket… a possibility that someone else was calling the shots.

        Theresa let out a sigh, catching Eve’s attention as they let out a noise of concern. A woeful but forced smile appeared on Theresa’s face and she shook her head. “It’s nothing Eve, just me overthinking things is all.”

        Eve didn’t like he had bought Theresa’s reply, but there wasn’t anything that the Eevee could do to get her to prove otherwise. However right now their main focus now was to take on the Gym leader in Virbank and see whether or not they could help with the plight of the missing Ferry Captain like some of the City People had suggested to them. Moving back to their current point, the further down they went on the stairs and into the building, the louder and louder the walls seemed to be bouncing noise off. They probably at best could figure that the Gym leader they were about to face was big into music, not that was a bad thing seeing as Theresa herself had found it to be rather comforting to say in the least, not that she had a good voice for it or anything. If anything she saw herself as pathetic in terms of that and would rather prefer to listen to it rather than actually performing, she’d leave that for the people who were better talented at it than her.

        Eve and her engagement with the Gym guide for a little bit, asking for any helpful hints that could help her out against the Gym leader besides what had already been given to her. When Clyde had mentioned that they were practicing, Theresa had almost become rather hesitant on actually requesting a fight with the leader only for Clyde to inform her that Roxie (as she had come to learn) wouldn’t mind too much and neither would the Band members if Theresa requested a battle from them.

        That put her at ease and reinvigorated her into going into the room to challenge Roxie on. Hopefully, Maxie was already up to the challenge of taking on her seeing as it looked to be like her thoughts were simply not misplaced due to the Pokeball shaking in excitement, causing Eve to chirp out in excitement.

        Taking a deep breath, she could feel her heart pound in excitement and nervousness as she pushed open the doors to the stage floor. This really did bring back fond memories, and she loved every second of it.

* * *

        The battle had been pretty intense and there were a few moments where the blue-eyed Brunette had been extremely close to losing the battle, but the way Maxie pulled each and every one of his moves flawlessly was enough to keep Theresa and them going through the battle with Eve cheering the two of them on with every little bark and chirp he could muster out there. It had even felt like the rest of her team and Eve were cheering Maxie on as well as the battle continued and fell to the close.

        Theresa took in a deep breath and called for Maxie to return to his Pokeball, which had then found itself safely latched onto the strap of her bag, back with the remainder of her team.

        Roxie then returned her last Pokemon back to its own ball where she put it away, while it had been an intense battle, the white-haired gal seemed fairly quiet for a short time before muttering something partly to herself before going about speaking in a slightly louder volume.

        “What are you doing losing Roxie?” She asked herself with a huff of irritation, she shook her head then focused her attention back over at Theresa. “Well… I guess that means that you’re strong, it kind of stinks, but I gave everything I had in this battle and now? Now I feel revitalized and refreshed!”

        Theresa gave her a look of confusion, that then faded into some form of understanding. To some she supposed it did seem like a battle would help clear someone of a cluttered mind and in a way she had to admit that it did the same thing for her, so she honestly and couldn’t entirely complain about it. Though sometimes, as she had learned, some battles could and would have a different effect on certain people.

        “Here you go! This’ll be proof that you have beaten me!” Roxie spoke, knocking Theresa away from her thoughts as she handed the Brunette her badge. “Now you have two badges! You shouldn’t have any problems when receiving Pokemon through a trade because once they see that badge, they’ll realize how good you are and won’t ignore any commands!”

        Theresa took the badge and carefully put it away, she gave another look at the one that Cheren had given her and Roxie’s before turning her attention back to the Poison Leader. “Thank you very much, Roxie.”

        “Mhm! Oh! Take this too” Roxie then handed Theresa a TM container that had the number 09 listed on the top of it. “If you have any Pokemon who can learn this, I suggest teaching it to them, it’s an awesome thing to have.”

        Theresa gave her another thanks, then waved goodbye. Her and Eve had barely gotten out of the Gym until they had been completely pulled to the side, the person who had pulled her off to the side had mentioned that he was talent seeker of sorts and had informed her that the battle between her and Roxie had been pretty intense, the Brunette felt out of place and awkward by the whole deal and while most cases it wasn’t too much of an issue, at most she felt like it was becoming something that made her uncomfortable. At best she was slowly beginning to wonder if it was a minor side effect of being out of the limelight for so long.

        “Come by Pokestar studios, sometime hun!” The guy spoke, patting her extremely hard on the back before walking on off.

        She let out a small groan of pain at the contact and began to slowly rub the spot that he had hit on her, that was a mark she was probably going to be feeling for a while that’s for sure. Theresa paused in her ministrations and threw a hand up to her forehead with a fairly loud slap, acting like she had some kind of revelation about something that the stranger had managed to provoke out of her, which he did--- Theresa had forgotten to ask Roxie about where to find the Ferry Captain. She was about to turn around and go back to the Gym when Roxie burst on out from behind the doors, looking absolutely shell-shocked about something.

        “You’re going to Pokestar Studios?!” Roxie shouted, eyes wide for a moment before she shook her head to stop and calm herself down. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help but listen in on the conversation. See, I completely forgot about my Old man and I really need him to get back to work.”

        “Your old man? Back to work?” Theresa asked looking extremely confused about what her father had to do with her going to Pokestar Studios.

        “See, he’s the Captain for the Ferry from here to Castelia City,” Roxie explained. “He figured that since I was doing a double gig he thought he could do one too by becoming a Star as well as a Ferry Captain.”

        “That’s… kind of problematic…” Theresa offhandedly spoke, thinking about how the two could work out.

        “Exactly! I told him that but he wouldn’t exactly listen.” Roxie huffed.

        “Hmm… Well, we kind of need to get to Castelia City. Think we could tag along together over to Pokestar Studios to get him to come back?” Theresa asked.

        “Mhm… Sounds good to me!"


	6. Not these guys again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Plasma? In my Neighborhood? It's more likely than you think---

        “Wait, wait, WAIT. HOLD UP!” Theresa exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her. “You’re suggesting I do what?!”

        “Try acting dear! You and your Pokemon are simply perfect movie material!”

        Theresa gave the Director an unamused look with Eve mimicking a similar expression while their current companion; Roxie looked to be trying to hold back some kind of humorous expression. Apparently telling the Brunette such a thing was not at all highly recommended seeing as she knew that she had no talent whatsoever and if she did, wouldn’t be acting on it at all anytime soon.

        “I’m afraid I’m going to have to straight up decline that, because my dude. I have zero acting ability whatsoever, only battling talent and that’s it.” Theresa replied, narrowing her eyes as she crossed her arms. “Unless my life straight up depended on it-- which it doesn’t-- I would never ever allow myself to go up on screen.”

        “But--”

        “Look, we gotta cut to the chase here,” Roxie spoke up, shutting down entirely whatever it was that the Director was going to try and say next. “We’re actually only here to look for my old man, you saw him? He came here to become ‘famous’ instead of doing his job.”

        Inwardly Theresa thanked Roxie for shooting down the subject further, she honestly didn’t want to get pulled into cheesy acting much less pulled into a movie.

        “O-oh, well, I believe we just did a film with him-- The Midlife man of Justice and Brycen-man? I think he’s in the showing complex---”

        Roxie grinned and gave him a thumbs up then grabbed Theresa by the arm and lead the two of them towards the showing complex.

        “So that’s where he’s at, well. Let’s get going and remind him he’s got a job to do!”

        When they arrived at the assumed Location, Theresa looked around trying to find Roxie’s father but instantly became stumped when she realized that she honestly had no idea who the man actually looked like, much less know what he was currently wearing to actually make a matchup. When she turned to face Roxie and ask her who she was supposed to be specifically looking for, she realized that the shorter gal was absolutely nowhere to be found.

        Theresa let out a sigh and looked absolutely defeated, she glanced down at Eve who looked like he had been trying to catch his breath all the while looking like he wasn’t at all exhausted from trying to keep up with the two.

        “Looks like we lost Roxie too…” Theresa sighed. “We just keep getting separated from everyone don’t we, Eve?”

        “You alright dear? You look lost.”

        Theresa let out a hum and looked at the owner of the voice, realizing that it was the person that had invited her to Pokestar Studios in the first place. She racked her brain to remember what exactly both Roxie and the Director called him a “Scout”.

        “Right well…” She started up, thinking on her words carefully. “Kind of? I mean I got separated from someone when we came in here looking for her dad so, I mean… I guess I kind of look like lost?”

        “It happens from time to time, Pokestar Studios is pretty big. So getting lost if you’re new to the grounds is a frequent thing. However, I don’t think we were properly introduced. I’m Anthony and you’re Theresa, correct?” He asked.

        Theresa nodded, feeling at ease now. “Yeah and this little guy here is Eve.”

        “He’s a real special Eevee right here,” Anthony spoke, taking a glance at Eve and looking at the silver pokemon. “A Shiny variant right?”

        “Yeah, certified by Professor Elm himself.”

        “That’s quite something, I bet you get told that quite frequently huh Theresa? Anyway, the best place I think you could probably look for your missing friend is up at the guest counter.” Anthony said, switching the subject and making a vague gesture in the direction of the counter.

        “Oh, thank you very much then Anthony.”

        “No problem dear! See you again sometime.”

        Theresa gave a nod and a wave, then made her way towards the Guest Counter within the Showing complex. If Anthony was right, then she could probably find Roxie and possibly her father as well if they waited right there. Between Eve and Theresa, it had honestly felt like forever before she saw Anthony again, but this time talking to a middle-aged man that looked to be dressed like a ship’s captain. Curiosity had gotten the best of the Brunette, so she had taken into the bad habit of listening in on what the two were talking about.

_“...Ha… You know, I'm always dreaming of making a big debut on the silver screen, Anthony… Now I’ve fulfilled that dream…”_

_“...What are you saying?”_ She could hear Anthony ask.

        There was a sight that came from the other. _“...Different people have different talents… I knew that all along. But when… but when I saw my daughter striving to balance the responsibilities of being a Gym leader while pursuing her own dream… I really wanted to pursue my own long-held dream.”_

        Theresa blinked once, then twice before making a soft “oh” sound. So that explained why Roxie’s father had disappeared when he did, she didn’t blame him for wanting to pursue a dream, but it added more light onto the situation than what she had already heard. It still didn’t change the fact that he had opted to get up and leave unexpectedly from his day job.

_“..If you stop pursuing your dreams… then I suppose that your life might as well be over.”_

        Anthony remained silent at who the captain had said as did Theresa.

        ‘That’s kind of a harsh thought to have…’ Theresa thought, watching the two some more. ‘I mean… it doesn’t mean your dreams are over.’

_“I’m going back to my duties as a Captain for now. Maybe someday I’ll come back and return to the screen. But… see… until that day comes, I’ll just have to leave all the starring roles for someone else. See you later Anthony.”_

        “Theresa! Theresa!”

        She snapped herself away from the conversation to turn and face whoever had been calling out to her, when she saw that it was Roxie, Theresa felt herself release a breath she didn’t even realize that she had been holding. However, when she turned back to see if Roxie’s father was still talking with Anthony, she saw that he was nowhere to be found now, causing her to sigh in minor disappointment.

        “Sorry I ran off without you, I couldn’t find my Old man anyway.” Roxie huffed, looking absolutely irritated.

        “Funny about that… I found him, well kind of found him. But I guess I lost him all in the same sitting.” Theresa sighed, rubbing the back of her head. “But it sounded like he was heading back to the docks so…”

        “Hm... I wonder what made him change his mind. He seemed so determined to become a Movie star.” Roxie mused, humming in thought as she looked to be racking her brain for some kind of answer.

        “Well… I’m sure he’ll tell you when we catch up to him, Roxie.” Theresa shrugged, not wanting to actually tell the singer the truth. “It’s probably something he’d like to tell his own daughter.”

        Roxie looked at Theresa in confusion, not understanding what the brunette had meant by that, but rolled with the punches anyway. It wasn’t like she had assumed that Theresa knew, it was rather that she knew that Theresa knew the reasoning but kept mum about pressing the subject.

        “Well, alright then. Let’s head back to Virbank and catch up with him.”

* * *

        Both had ventured back to Virbank, a part of Theresa was glad that it wasn’t that far of a walk as well as the fact that she was now away from the atmosphere that Pokestar Studios had, just something about it made her extremely uncomfortable and she wasn’t entirely sure why but had figured that it was probably because it was against her entire person. Though the idea of possibly going back and attempting a movie was tempting, even if earlier while she was there she had admitted that it wasn’t her thing. But something about what Roxie’s father said did catch her interest and made her generally rethink her original thought, though for now, it was best that she focused on finding both Hugh and getting to Castelia City.

        Amongst all of her current wafting thoughts, a huge part of her wondered if Burgh was still a Gym leader or not, if anything it was best she found out for herself when she got there. Made her even wonder if the esteemed artist remembered her or not after that ordeal with the Pokemon League. Her attention got taken away from those thoughts however when she spotted Hugh dead ahead past the Gym and what looked to be a small group of people that looked oddly similar to the so-called Plasma Grunt she had encountered back in Floccesy Ranch.

        “Tch..”

        Theresa looked over to where Roxie had stood next to her, only to realize that the white-haired gal had already made a beeline ahead of her to where Hugh stood. Leaving Theresa to stand there in her dust and looking absolutely done yet again.

        “Those two are more alike than they know…,” Theresa muttered before pulling up the courage to run right after Roxie towards Hugh and the supposed Plasma wannabes.

        “So! Are you Punks Team Plasma, then?” Roxie exclaimed, crossing her arms and looking absolutely defiant.

        One of the Grunts looked at the others then let out a loud laugh, it was annoying. That’s all Theresa could describe it as, but then again she had always thought of any villain’s grunts as annoying in general. Not that she hated them, seeing as it was hard to hate a single person, but because she hated the fact that they were thieves and liars at best.

        “That’s right! We’re Team Plasma! Two years ago… Two years ago we were betrayed by the man we had respected as our king and hero!” The one who laughed spoke, anger overtaking his features.

        “So because of that! Our conquest of the Unova Region ended in such Failure!”

        “But we will never give up! We will Persevere! Persevere with another plan in motion!”

        Eve let out a low growl while Theresa rolled her eyes, okay... So she honestly had to admit that they were still as annoying as they had been before, it didn’t change the fact that they were trying something that honestly couldn’t be done. Not without Zekrom or Reshiram.

        However it seemed like Hugh took to anger instantly, making Theresa ever more so concerned about how exactly he was handling the whole situation, she had her own anger towards Team Plasma, but the type of anger she was beginning to witness from the teen was almost similar to what he had shown back at the Ranch and made her own seem absolutely tame.

        “SHUT IT” Hugh shouted, glaring intensely at the Grunts. “You guys are the WORST. You go on about SAVING Pokemon, but you’re nothing but Pokemon thieves! Don’t you ever think for a moment I will EVER forgive you!!”

        “In the Ranch, we got chased by Lillipup…”

        “Oh Shut up already,” Theresa huffed, she looked absolutely irritated. “If you’re going to complain like a bunch of babies then complain about the RIGHT Pokemon, the bloody Pokemon that chased your sorry asses was a Herdier. So get that right and next up-- you were far from chased. Your asses were attempting to steal them!”

        “I--”

        “Auntie… How do you know that?”

        “Because I encountered one of them and they freaking threw a TM at my head!” Theresa hissed, taking the same intense glare and aiming it at the grunts that stood before them. “A TM! AT MY HEAD!”

        “Wait-- these punks threw a TM at your head?” Roxie asked, sounding invested in it.

        “Yeah, and it would have hurt if Eve didn’t intervene.”

        Hugh looked to be in thought before he turned to face the Plasma grunts in front of them, anger was really visible on his face again and at this point, Theresa wasn’t even entirely sure if she should actually feel sorry for them now or not. She then sort of decided that just this once she would feel at least a little bit sorry for them.

        “W-Well-- No matter! We’ll just steal your Pokemon! To make up for our Failure at the Ranch!”

        Theresa couldn’t help but roll her shoulders, causing them to pop. She put her hand on her hip and tilted her head sideways, looking absolutely like she was putting no effort in an attempt to stop the grunts from stealing their Pokemon.

        “Alright, I’d like to see you try.” Theresa mocked, now looking absolutely amused by mixed expressions of confusion and fear flashing in each of the Grunt’s faces. It almost felt like she had just used the move “Confusion” and succeeded in confusing the enemy, given how much humor it gave her. She was really going to have to try that again sometime.

        “Ha! I’ll just crush you and your new plans!” Hugh cheered, grabbing his Snivy’s Pokeball from its placement on his belt. “Because I can NEVER forgive Team Plasma!”

        Roxie couldn’t help but simply smile at both Theresa’s and Hugh’s determination, the way she saw it. She had a duty as a Gym leader anyway to protect her city and from her experience with battling the two of them at different points, she honestly couldn’t ask for better people to battle alongside with against Team Plasma.

        “Let’s Rock ‘n Roll!” Roxie shouted, releasing her Whirlipede from its Pokeball.

        Theresa nodded over at Eve, she wasn’t going to risk having her new Pokemon team going up against Team Plasma just yet. It was only fair to let Eve take part in battling against them once again after all was said and done, Eve was a perfect choice anyway and it would help her at least figure out who the hell was currently in charge of them now. Eve was a good marker, a good way to see if that small hunch was right about who it was because if it was who she thought it was, then they most certainly would remember Eve.

        “Let’s remind them what happened the last time they tried to take Unova.”

        The Grunt she went up against had sent out a Patrat, Theresa felt sort of bad for the Pokemon, but there wasn’t much she could do and she’d have to just go with what she could do. If they were to fail yet again then there was a high possibility of her finding out the truth on whether or not the Pokemon she fought against were really the Plasma grunt’s or someone else’s.

        Eve walked back and forth in an almost predatory way, his hazel eyes boring into the Patrat’s large red ones. It looked like the small Eevee was over his head in joy of battling against a Pokemon being commanded by a Plasma member. She didn’t doubt it, especially when it was probably still fresh in the Eevee’s head when one of them had attempted to steal him away from her while she slept. Shiny variation or not, Eve was the most important Pokemon to her and she was the most important human to him and no way in any of the worlds above and below was going to tear the two of them apart.

        “Patrat! Use Bide!”

        “Eve, let’s keep that Pokemon distracted yeah?”

Eve nodded and rushed towards the Patrat, scaring it as he went and struck the Pokemon down with an attack. It distracted the Patrat long enough for it to lose its focus before trying once again to try and use the same move, Theresa could faintly hear the Grunt growl before shouting at the Pokemon to scrap Bide for the time being and use the move Detect to keep Eve from striking at him again.

        “Eve, use Workup.”

        Eve used the requested move, forcing the Patrat and the grunt to scrap using Detect in an attempt to defend themselves. Theresa figured that they had already figured out that every time they attempted to do that she would just tell Eve to build up his power until they slipped up, not that it was going to matter at the moment given that she had now asked Eve to attempt to finish off the other Pokemon.

        “Eve, use quick attack then bite.”

        The silver Pokemon nodded in response to the issued attacks and ran towards the Patrat, disappearing for a brief instant before coming back into view and slamming himself against the other. When the Pokemon was briefly stunned, Eve took the chance to throw in the final strike and clamped down on the Patrat, forcing it to then hit the ground in utter defeat, effectively defeating the Plasma grunt that stood before her. It then looked to be that both Roxie and Hugh were now finished with their battles, leaving the Plasma Grunts looking rather fearful and for a way out of their current predicament.

        “I-- I can’t believe---” The lead grunt spoke, sounding completely done for. “Rrrr, let’s scatter!”

        They ran towards Theresa and shoved her into the side, almost knocking Roxie over entirely by the force only for Hugh to run over and keep the two of them from actually falling over from the impact.

        “Auntie, Roxie… Are you guys alright?” Hugh asked, concerned over the two of them possibly having been hurt.

        Theresa nodded, then brushed herself off.

        “Yeah, we’re fine.”

        Hugh looked over in the direction that the Plasma grunts had run off in, looking still fairly angry, but more so peeved now at the botched attempt they tried against the three of them. “What a bunch of creeps…”

        “We need to split up, Theresa I need you and Hugh to go check out Route 20. They honestly couldn’t have gotten far, we can’t let them run around freely.” Roxie shouted, running in one direction. She paused and rushed back towards both Hugh and Theresa. “If I had lost… I would have lost my precious Pokemon… I have to say Thank you.”

        Theresa smiled softly. “It’s no problem, Roxie, besides. If someone threatened to steal my friend's pokemon, then I wouldn’t stand idly by. I did what was the right thing to do and you did too.”

        Roxie returned the smile and nodded before running off in another direction, there was no way either one of them were going to let those Grunts get away like that. It wouldn’t stand to reason that they wouldn’t try to attempt another steal, they were predictable at best.

        “C’mon Auntie! We gotta split up Route 20 and find them!” Hugh shouted, now following suit after Roxie.


	7. The girl and the Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't anyone actually reads this anymore, but I won't possibly be posting more chapters up later this week due to me being out of town for Work-related things.

        It didn’t take long for Theresa and Hugh to find one of the Plasma grunts, the battle hadn’t lasted long and after her defeat, said Plasma grunt had run off back towards Virbank City but not without dropping a hint behind as to where her group was heading to now. Hugh had made the offhand comment that it seemed to be a frequent thing that the grunts would always seem to run away after having been defeated as if they didn’t want to be apprehended by one of the Gym Leaders or the ever so mysterious Looker as Theresa had been vaguely dropping here and there.

        Needless to say, it didn’t matter much seeing as Team Plasma had now officially left the general area. Not that it really mattered on whether or not they were going to go after them again.

        “You know… She did give us a hint without realizing it.” Hugh spoke up, “She mentioned something about the Ocean right?”

        “Yeah, she did didn’t she?” Theresa hummed, heading back towards Virbank with Hugh.

        “So maybe they’re traveling by boat? Hmm… We need to get to the docks ASAP Auntie T! Someone there might be able to help us go after them!” Hugh huffed, looking absolutely determined to go after them.

        Theresa nodded in agreement, someone might be there that could help them out. Besides, it was one of those things where they just so happened to be going to the same place that they had been originally been heading. So why hit one bird pokemon with one stone when you could just straight up hit two with one?

        “We’ll get there in no time, I have a feeling that the Captain is already back there right now. Possibly having a talk with Roxie.” Theresa mused, a smile present on her face as they trekked their way back to Virbank City and to its Docks.

        “Auntie, who do you mean by that?” Hugh asked confused.

        “You’ll see, trust me on that Hugh.”

        The walk back from that point had been fairly quiet, even more so amongst the noise of the city. It had been some time since they had actually stayed together as a group with Hugh’s constant need to run off and get ahead of her. She had a feeling that it wasn’t going to last for very much longer, given that in her gut she could tell that once they got to the mainland he was going to want to go separate ways.

        The two of them spotted Roxie talking with her father, by the time that the two of them had gotten close to her and her father, it had seemed like the conversation between the two of them were finished and had gotten them spotted the minute that Roxie turned around.

        “Oh, Theresa! Hugh!” Roxie exclaimed, waving at the two of them. “Did you guys find them?”

        “We did” Theresa started up, about to finish the sentence before she found herself interrupted with Hugh finishing the rest of her sentence.

        “But they ran off like cowards.”

        “Hm.. well, it looks like everyone from Team Plasma has gotten away then.” Roxie mused, sounding partly upset that they had escaped. “I honestly don’t feel good about that… but at least they’re gone from here.”

        “That’s always a good positive rather than a negative one. I’d think I’d prefer that one any day.” Theresa hummed in contentment.

        “Anyway, it looks like it’ll be clear sailing for you guys now, sorry about all the ruckus.”

        “It’s quite alright, thank you for everything though Roxie,” Theresa said, smiling happily.

        “Anytime Theresa.”

* * *

        “Auntie T, can I ask you something?” Hugh asked breaking the silence between the three of them.

        Theresa looked over at Hugh and thought about what he could possibly ask her, she clicked her tongue before she spoke up. “Sure, fire away Hugh.”

        “Have you messed with Team Plasma before? I knew Gym leader Cheren messed with them before and I heard about this trainer that went up against them with the a white Pokemon, but that they left Unova…” Hugh started up, going in deep on his question. “And… Bianca and Cheren both called you “Theresa” instead of Tessa even back in the Gym, which is really confusing. Just… who are you really Auntie T?”

        “Hmm… It’ll be a while before we get to Castelia City, probably not until morning.” Theresa mused. “So If anything I can tell you the truth. No.. Not really can…. but rather really tell you the truth.”

        Eve moved to curl up in Theresa’s lap, he gave a big yawn before tucking his head tight into his body. Listening intently to Theresa and Hugh’s voices.

        “Theresa is my real name and yes I have messed with Team Plasma before.” She said curtly, recalling the incident fairly well like it had been something that happened only yesterday. Though granted she did mess with them earlier today, wondering on that she figured that it was probably messing with her memories just a small minor bit.

        “How come you never told me about it before?” Hugh asked, completely interested in the explanation.

        “It was something that I honestly didn’t think most people wanted to hear, not to mention after all was said and done. I just simply wanted to forget ever having dealt with them in the first place. Dealing with them wasn’t exactly the most pleasant thing you see, but I wasn’t exactly alone when I was dealing with them. While yes, that Cheren had a hand in it… so did two other people that were close to me; Jin and Wizard...” Theresa explained with a sigh. “Point being, that was something that honestly didn’t really go away. They were one of the worst groups my friends and I had ever dealt with in all of our years of traveling.”

        “One of…? So they were more than just Pokemon thieves weren’t they? I knew it. But… Why hide your name? It’s not like you had anything to do with that Hero stuff right?”

        Theresa let out a sigh, then shook her head. “See about that, the so-called “Hero” nonsense was pretty one-sided, there were two heroes and as I recall right, that’s how the story has always been for Unova’s history from what has been told to me.” She explained. “They mentioned a King, you remember that right?”

        “Yeah, I remember them mentioning that and how their “King” betrayed them.”

        “That’s only a part of the story, they failed because of my friends and I intervening and beating their King. Not because we had any say in it, more or less we were given the ultimatum to do it. Their “King” wasn’t a bad guy per say, his heart was in the right place and always had been. But he had been manipulated and puppeteered by a man he had been raised by, convinced and manipulated into believing that Pokemon and Humans just couldn’t live together without hurting the other.”

        Hugh remained silent, taking in what Theresa was telling him, for the most part, he didn’t interrupt what she was trying to tell.

        “I had a hand in it, yes, but the choice their King made was what crushed them in the first place. I was just only a piece of a puzzle that helped tear down the very foundation they thought they stood invincible on.” Theresa paused and made another clicking noise as she tried to remember more of it.

        “That doesn’t really answer why you were going by a different name though Auntie T.”

        “Mmm I’m avoiding that story aren’t I? Hmmm, well it wasn’t my idea. I would have opted to leave Unova for good, carried on with whatever winds would direct me and all that kind of talk. But this international officer by the name of “Looker” had told me it was best if I stayed in Unova, hiding because of what Alder and Cheren had spoken of. Apparently one of the key members of Team Plasma had escaped, he was the next person I had battled and won against after I defeated their king. I guess Looker had brought the idea up to Drayden and Professor Juniper and they agreed with it. So I stayed here in Unova for the past two years under a name that was personally chosen while my friends left Unova and essentially scattered to the winds.”

        “You guys really messed them up didn’t you?” Hugh asked. “You must have really been intimidating to them huh?”

        Theresa couldn’t help but pull up a small smile. “Nah, far from intimidating Hugh. Part of the reason I went quiet aside what Drayden, Alder, Looker, and Juniper had suggested was because of one of the Legendary Dragon-types.”

        “One of them? What did you have to do with them?” Hugh asked, sounding really curious and suspicious as to why Theresa had even brought that up in the first place.

        “Apparently, Team Plasma’s “King” had this notion that one of us was the other hero that would be chosen by one of the Dragons of legend to battle against him and his Dragon of legend. Which to some degree had been proven to be very much true, he had gone and awoken Zekrom and I had gone and somehow awakened Reshiram, between my friends and I, I honestly would have expected Wiz or Jin to be the ones to wake him… not me.” Theresa paused. “From that point, you know how that ended and how that all ties in.”

        “If you awakened Reshiram… then… where are they? I thought that they would stay with their chosen hero no matter what?” Hugh questioned.

        “Mhmm… Reshiram… what happened to them? See… When their King left and took Zekrom… for some reason Reshiram just… disappeared.” Theresa sounded rather woeful.

        “Disappeared?”

        “They…. Turned back into the Light stone, I don’t understand why they did nor know why. I wanted to ask Drayden about it, but when I did, he honestly didn’t have an answer. I had almost debated on whether or not I wanted to leave right away from Unova, try to find N…”

        “N…?”

        “That’s… uh… well… that’s who Team Plasma’s “King” called himself.” Theresa sighed. “At that point, I figured he would have an answer.”

        Hugh had gotten fairly silent, she wasn’t entirely sure if he had begun to see her in a completely different light or not since she expressed some form of familiarity with Plasma’s leader. But the basic idea had seemed to fall flat as he looked to ignore it entirely in favor of admitting that that wasn’t the case.

        “I… I kinda wanna know… Do you, do you have Reshiram with you right now?”  Hugh then asked.

        “I… well, hmm.. I may or may not have them with me right now.” Theresa spoke up, shrugging at her vague answer.

        She shuffled Eve around to go and grab her bag, she shuffled a few things here and there in it then showed the inside of the bag to Hugh, there inside of the bag wrapped inside of a soft blanket was a shiny white stone with three misshapen indents. Hugh gave a soft gasp in shock when he saw the stone tucked safely inside of the Brunette’s bag.

        “The one who went against Zekrom, in part from what everyone knows is that like N, they’re gone… somewhere out there traveling the world looking for their “friend”.” Theresa hummed. “That’s the official story anyway--”

        “They really went out of their way to hide you Auntie T, but not your friends… why?” Hugh asked.

        “I couldn’t agree more with you on that. It’s particularly strange when you think about it, it’s possible that they thought about how Team Plasma had been disbanded for years before they showed up when they did and thought that maybe some of them might still be lurking around, however they probably figured that by separating us then there would be no room for error.”

        “Well, they were right about that and I can’t forgive Team Plasma for what they did. I’m going to stop them, I’m going to do exactly what you guys did and tear the foundation out from under them after what they did.”

        Theresa looked over at Hugh, gauging his face for any particular expression she could use to better read him. When she found nothing yet, she let out a small internal sigh. If he had anything he wanted to tell her, she would rather wait until he had the full courage to do it rather than attempt to pressure him into it.


	8. Into the Sewers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating on Friday or Wednesday. But here have chapter 8??

        The morning had come by the time that both Hugh, Theresa, and Eve had arrived to the docks of Castelia City. They hadn’t had too much of a good rest on the way over, but it had at least been a decent amount of sleep either way. It had taken a few good tries for Hugh to actually get her up the minute they hit land, but the minute she was wide awake they were out of the boat in an instant and surveying the area around them.

        Hugh almost looked exactly like a kid in a candy store as he looked up and around at the skyscrapers all around them, it was fairly endearing to say in the least as she and Eve continued to watch him in absolute joy and mirth.

        “This is Castelia City?” Hugh asked more to himself than Theresa. “It’s so much bigger than I heard!”

        “Seems like nothing has changed since I was here last, but I guess that’s city life for you it seems.” Theresa mused.

        Hugh took in a breath then turned to face Theresa with a sheer look of determination, whatever he was going to say now, Theresa had a feeling that there was no way she was going to be able to talk him out of it. But at this point in time, they were already on the mainland and if Hugh had wanted to go further on by himself then she was more than willing to let him do just that. She had only gone with him because he had offered her to and had figured it good for her own personal health. Hugh was 15 now, and the way she saw it was that this was his time to shine and she wouldn’t interfere with it.

        “Auntie T! I’m going to go and find Team Plasma! No matter where they go I’m going to find them!”

        Theresa couldn’t help but laugh only slightly at Hugh’s announcement, it was endearing even if she didn’t know the main reason.

        “Auntie T, I’m gonna take this chance to go on my own. If we meet up again then we meet up again, and I’d like it if you could be my backup!”

        “I can’t argue with that, Hugh. I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your personal trip.” Theresa said, smiling in contentment. “You have my Xtransceiver number if you need me.”

        Hugh nodded, he hesitated for a moment before going to give the Brunette a tight hug. It didn’t last for very long as he had been quick to pull away and run off towards the City, but not before stopping to stare at a large Sailing ship that was docked across the Ferry.

        “That’s strange… A sailing ship in this day and age…? Huh…”

        Theresa watched him go before shuffling her bag a little and took a deep breath, doing her best to not get at all teary-eyed from Hugh’s goodbye hug.

        “You alright there Kiddo?” Roxie’s father asked, lightly patting the Brunette on the back.

        “Just Peachy Keen Jelly Bean, we’re not even related and I’m all teary-eyed about seeing him go about his own way.” Theresa huffed, clapping her hands together to break away her sad.

        “Hmm, that happens when you’re a part of a small but close community.” He mused, nodding at his own answer.

        Theresa couldn’t object to that at all in the slightest and she had been fairly thankful for that, it helped her and Eve out and reminded her of when her Parents and neighbors had wished her farewell. After dwelling on that thought for a little bit longer, she waved her farewells to Roxie’s father and went on her way into the City with Eve. However, like Hugh she had to stop and stare at the black sailing ship that had been docked across from the Ferry, something about it felt extremely off kilter and she couldn’t make no full tell on why it had felt like that. Though when she got closer to the ship, she could feel a sudden chill in the air that then forced her back and away from it.

        It was fairly strange indeed.

* * *

        Theresa and Eve spent some time wandering around Castelia City, it was a pleasant sight to see again after having been gone for so long. They had at some point stopped for some Ice Cream to snack on as they made plans on how to traverse the city, it wasn’t unusual for her to do that. But expected nonetheless.

        “We should probably keep our current track record going, I mean. We already have two badges from Unova again, might as well keep going all the way right?” Theresa asked, looking over at Eve as he finished up his frozen threat. “I mean, who’s the Gym leader here? Still Burgh I hope?”

        She got up and tossed their trash into one of the bins before moving back to where Eve currently sat, watching cautiously around them, but contently watching Theresa make her way back to him. Eve sat up from his spot on the bench and nudged her bag for her to grab easily, she reached for her bag and slung it over her shoulder. It was still fairly early in the day, she would have to look at different flyers to see whether or not she should stay in a hotel or factor in just camping it out for a night or two.

        Theresa reaches down to pick up Eve, opting this time around to carry him in her arms instead of letting him sit on her shoulders. The silver Eevee objected for a brief moment before accepting his position and making the best of it while he could. After all, was said and done now, the two of them made their way towards the third Gym location, the way over had been fairly easy as the muscle memory hadn’t seemed to have worn down in the time she had been gone. Which proved to be helpful.

        The Gym looked the same as it had looked back when she first challenged it, which brought fond memories back once again and how she recalled just how much of a hard time she had trying to beat Burgh the first time around. Had she not had Daru, she probably would have had an even harder time.

        “The same its always has been, huh Eve?” Theresa asked her partner who couldn’t help but let out a bark at the comment. “Let’s see if we can head on in.”

        She sped walked over to the direction of the doors, but upon reaching them she had noted that there hung a sign simply stating the Gym was currently closed for the moment and would be open again later on in the day.

        “Well… so much for that, Eve.” She sighed, pouting only slightly.

        “Ooooh Did Burgh vanish again?”

        Theresa turned sharply on her heel to face the person that had snuck up behind the two of them, she blinked in confusion trying to figure out who the newcomer was before the realization struck her square in the face.

        “Iris…?” She hesitantly said before switching straight into absolute excitement. “Iris!”

        “Theresa? Is that really you?” Iris asked looking absolutely shocked that she had even encountered the Brunette. “You look wonderful! Not that you haven’t always, but you look more so than you did before!”

        “You look way better than I do Iris, it’s so good to see you.” Theresa laughed, lightly shaking Eve.

        “What are you doing here? I thought you left.” Iris questioned.

        “That’s the popular story it seems these days, I’m honestly surprised Drayden didn’t tell you-- He’s part of the whole reason I’ve actually be in Unova still! Oh!! By the way, have you any idea where Burgh might be?” Theresa asked, quickly changing the subject to avoid retelling the story again.

        “Hmm… Can’t say that I know where he is, he’s always been one to vanish all the time though.” Iris answered, trying to bring in some kind of humor and succeeding at it.

        “He always says he’s got artist’s block.” Both girls looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh at how in sync they were in response to poking some minor fun at Burgh.

        “Any reason why you’re looking for him, Theresa?” Iris asked, curious to know the answer. “I thought you already took on all of the Gyms, are you rechallenging them with the hope of taking on the Pokemon League?”

        “More or less, I mean. I’ve been hanging out in Aspertia city for two years having a nice quiet life with Eve and my Pokemon, so there’s only so much you can do before you get bored out of your noggin.” Theresa shrugged. “Probably deal with Team Plasma again on the side for old time’s sake and all that.”

        “Team Plasma? They disbanded two years ago thanks to you,” she responded, Iris then shook her head. “Mmhm doesn’t matter, if you want to challenge Burgh again, I’ll help you look for him. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he ran off to go deal with something serious either.”

        “Any clues to where he could have gone?” Theresa asked, beginning to walk as Iris walked alongside her.

        “Well, if he went after some troublesome people… then we should try to think like them.”

        “Casteilla is a big city, so there’s probably a good number of places they could be hiding.” Theresa brought up, sighing.

        “Hmm…” Iris looked deep in thought before she slammed her fist into the open palm of her other hand like she had gotten some revelation. “That’s it!”

        “What’s it?”

        “That might be where he went!”

        “What place? Where would he go?” Theresa questioned, looking extremely confused at being left out of the loop.

        Before she could question Iris, Iris had taken straight off down the road and turned the corner leaving Theresa and Eve behind. Taking in a deep breath, she shook her head and immediately took off after the smaller girl, they rounded the corner and looked around vividly as they tried to find Iris, only barely managing to catch a glimpse of her heading near the Dock closest to the Skyarrow Bridge.

        “That way then,” Theresa said, not really speaking to anyone but herself and Eve.

* * *

        “Took you long enough to catch up Theresa!”

        Theresa took in a deep breath and waved her hand at Iris before she took the chance to actually speak up and gave the girl her answer. “I have not been keeping up with my daily exercises, probably a sign I should get back into them.”

        Iris couldn’t help but laugh at Theresa’s comment, good to know that she could at least manage to get someone to laugh at her forgetful tendencies.

        “Anyway! If you think about it, if you mention a “suspicious” place in any way then the only places that come to mind at a suggestion like that are Narrow Street and well here! Thumb Pier!” Iris explained, nodding at her own explanation.

        “Okay, that makes sense. Narrow street is suspicious as all get go..” Theresa hummed. “But I don’t understand the deal with Thumb Pier.”

        “Well, from here you can go right into the Sewers and if anything that is suspicious as all out.” Iris countered.

        “Auntie T!”

        Theresa and Iris turned around to see Hugh running towards the two of them, clearly out of breath.

        “Auntie T! You haven’t happened to see Team Plasma around have you?” He asked in between breaths.

        “Afraid not Hugh,” Theresa responded shaking her head.

        “Then that means… that’s only one place left I haven’t looked yet!” Hugh shouted before running past the two of them and down towards the Sewers.

        “Mhm! Yep! They’re the perfect spot!” Iris chirped, clapping her hands.

        Theresa was about to follow after Hugh only for Iris to stop the Brunette in her tracks, causing her to look fairly confused about what the shorter of them was going to ask.

        “Auntie huh?” Iris asked, completely interested in what answer Theresa would have.

        “It’s a long, long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason there weren't any updates posted on Wednesday and Friday due to me being out of town and dealing with some things involving my coworker. But I've chosen to remove Wednesday as an update day, so currently it has been narrowed down to Mondays & Fridays.


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